Stash Sunday

Here is the first part of that Christmas stack you saw the other day.

First, there is this voile, part of Anna Maria Horner's Little Folks line.

It seems like a lot of people I've seen online are using this fabric for quilting. But I got 3yrds so I could make a blouse or skirt. This fabric has a nice tight weave and a fantastic drape. I used to have a blouse made out of a cotton something like this, and it was my favorite item of clothing ever -- I literally wore it until it started falling apart. I'm not super sure about the bright green, but Dave seems to think it will be fine. I might also pick some of the solid grey as well, becuase it is really lovely fabric.

I was a little short on red in my stash, so I decided this might fill in the gap nicely:

I was super happy to see these owls at Fabricworm.com. I have wanted some since the first run of them came out a few years ago, but they had already disapeared by the time I decided to buy some. The yellow dots are, again, to add to my stash (they are a little more mustard than I had hoped) and the other fabrics are from the Meadowsweet line. I love these four prints sooo much. I have at least one more still coming, I think its the big orange flowers on brown. These might turn into a little floor/ stroller quilt for Emma. I haven't decided yet.
There doesn't seem to be a Linky up at 1/4 of an inch this week, so if you want to see more Stashers, check out the Flikr group here .

Stash Sunday

No Easter theme here. Sorry. But I did just get this very springy fabric, Wonderland by MoMo. I love this fabric. I have no plan for it at present, other than to just look at it
This one is my favorite. I don't know what I"m going to do that will do it justice. I might just have to make a big cushion out of it.


And here's the rest. I am trying to remind myself that I already have lots of fabrics in oranges and greens and yellows and browns that co-ordinate with these in my stash. I don't need to get the pink little flowers, or the purple or pistashio polka dots. I really, really don't.

Stash Sunday

I did say I was getting some new blues soon. Here they are. Lovely, Europeany Good Folks on the left (and top right) by Anna Maria Horner, and delicate, pretty Art Nouveau prints -- don't know the designer's name, sorry. I wish the gray was Kona cotton, but its just something I picked up at Fabricland that happens to match. I can't bear trying to match solids to prints online, so I don't get many of the Kona Cottons, although I love the feel of them.

These are destined to be a bed quilt for my bed. Yep, this will be my first queen sized, and is fourth on my to-do list at present. I'm planning on a simple square and rectangle type pattern with big blocks. I"m not worried about that part, but I am a bit nervous about quilting it. I don't know if my machine will agree to quilt a queen sized quilt. It might be the straw that broke the camel's back. Maybe I"ll make it a year long project and hand quilt it . . .

Anyhow, thats my offering this week. If you want to see who else is playing this week or join up yourself, go visit Tamara at 1/4 of an inch -- its her game.

Stash Sunday -- spotty edition

These are my Kaffe Roman Glass dots, and co-ordinating dots. I am going to use these in the Oh Franson Mod Sampler quilt-along . When I first saw the image of just the pattern I wasn't going to do it. But when I started to see the quilts showing up on Flikr, and noticed how easily the blocks came together, I decided it will be my next project after Andrew's quilt.

There's a funny story that goes along with these and the other 12 fat quarters and half yards of polka dots I have in my stash (which I am finally breaking up and using). When I first started quilting, about 3 years ago, I picked up a copy of Quilts and More and saw the most amazing polka dotted star quilt on the cover. I thought, "I must make that quilt. And since it only has 9 blocks, it can't be that hard." and without another thought, aside from occasionally admiring the photos, I started collecting polka dots. It was a super scrappy quilt, so I collected a LOT of polka dots. I beleive I had something like 8 yards total of assorted dots, mostly fat quarters. So since I had enough fabric, I looked at the pattern again. And started reading the cutting directions, which go something like this: Cut assorted dark prints into 126 - 3" squares. Cut in half diagonally for a total of 252 small triangles. . . . and later in the directions . . . repeat to make 36 light triangle units . . .. repeat to make 76 dark triangle units . . . . .

Basically, I realized that this quilt would take a lot of precision and time. More of either than I have right now. Piecing tiny triangles is not a good idea when you have little boys climbing on and off your lap and bumping into your sewing machine. So I shelved the magazine for another day (when I will probably have enough scraps to make the thing out of real scraps and children old enough to sit and draw while I sew). And since then, I have been hoarding these metres and metres of polka dots, trying to decide whether to break them up or keep them together. I used about 3 m worth of blue and red and cream dots for Andrew's I-spy (coming soon -- all the squares are cut finally) and now I'm using these for the Mod Sampler. The rest are going to be released into my general stash, to be used liberally in whatever projects I choose.

No stash sunday this week.

Sorry.

I did ORDER some fabric today, however, so I should have a fantastic stash sunday in two or three weeks from now. I realized I had a blue deficit in my fabric stash. No longer, dear readers. No longer.

Now I have to go and sleep so I have the energy to finish the quilt I am selling to make the money to pay for the fabric I just bought. Ahem.

If you want to spy on other people's stashes, or display some of your own stash, feel free to pop by quarter of an inch and see who is playing along this week.

Stash Sunday!

I forgot about this last week! Ah well, things have been kind of hectic around here, between toddlers getting molars and me getting a cold and being overdramatic and it being March -- month of never ending winter around here. So here is some nice fabric to cheer us all up. This is most of my garden party stash. I have added a few brown and burgandy prints, so its all ready to make a happy, simple quilt. I love this fabric so much, that I had it in my happy fabric cannisters for a while, and I had to move it into one of my bins. I could not get any of my Christmas sewing done with it staring at me, calling "Sew us! Sew us!". I can't wait to work with this fabric.

Sunday Stash -- I Spy Edition

A lot of these are 6 or 10 inch squares bought in paks from various online fabric stores. But quite a few are fat quarters or half yards to fussy cut. About 2/3 of this is now cut into squares for my son's quilt. I keep having all these ideas of ways to make it fancy, but I really think that is just me complicating things -- a simple one patch quilt is going to be just fine.

Stash Sunday

As I mentioned, I was rifling through my stash to try to find a yellow or green that would co-ordinate with my Peas and Carrots quilt. And here's what I found:

Stash Sunday

While I was in Thunder Bay, at my Dad's funeral, I made a last-minute-on-the-way-to-the-airport stop at this fabric store of which I know of. It carries Kaffe Fasset's stripes and shot cottons. SO I snuck in a picked these up.

When I was folding them after I washed them (yep, I'm an obsessive prewasher since the monkey quilt disaster ), when I realized that they remind me of Thunder Bay for another reason.

Ready for a little Canadian history? If not, just look at the lovely fabric and click on through.
My home town, Thunder Bay, is one of the northern most bays in Lake Superior. Lake Superior is the most inland of the great lakes, which join together and feed into the St. Laurence River, which then feeds into the Atlantic Ocean. In the 1700's, when Canada was first settled, its major export was fur, and the major method of transport was canoe. All along the canoe routes there were Forts, where Native American and European trappers would drop off their furs.These forts were set up by trading companies and contained all the basic amenities that might be needed by trappers or voyageurs (the guys that paddled the canoes up and down the rivers and lakes) - doctors, smiths, bars - as well as some representatives of the trading company that set up the fort. Thunder Bay was originally founded at this time, as Fort William, by the North West Trading Company (if I remember correctly). It was at the head of the great lakes, and on the shores of a river that led into a series of smaller rivers and lakes that led into the rest of what is now Northern Ontario and Manitoba.

Still with me? Fast forward to the present day. About 30 or 35 years ago, Thunder Bay was still on a major trade route. Grain from the prairies would come into town by train and go out on big Ocean going Container Ships. But there was an argument between the rail union and the wheat board and wheat started going West out to Vancouver instead. In the midst of this they found / excavated the ruins of Fort William, then reconstructed it a few miles further up the river, and made it into a tourist stop, complete with summer job seeking university students in full costume baking bread, smithing metal, building canoes, and paddling up and down the river.

Okay, back to the connection to the fabric shown above. Those woven stripes totally remind me of all the bright, striped shirts and sashes worn by the French voyageurs at Old Fort William. It brought me back to field trips in elementary school where we would dress like voyageurs and cart water and paddle canoes and learn paddle dances and cook bannock around campfires and learn to find ten kinds of edible root in the forest. The soft, homespun quality of the fabric and the lively yet earthy colours triggered my very tactile memory. And that, friends, is how my mind works.

Anyway, I do love these fabrics. Don't know if I"ll use all the stripes together or as two colourways. Hmm. . . .

Super Stash Sunday

How much do I love these fabrics? So much that I had to order them immediately, even though I was on holidays when they came out. My favorite is the orange octopus / seahorse one, although I almost equally love the purple / yellow octopus one above. I have great plans for these . . . if only I could settle on one set of great plans, it would be all good. I have some thoughts of English Paper Piecing stars with mermaids and fish spiralling out of them. Or then again of undulating pieced waves of fish and sea creatures . . . haven't made up my mind quite yet.

Super Stash Sunday

I know, its not Sunday yet. But tomorrow is Aaron's little birthday party, so I imagine I'll be busy and then tired afterwords. So here it is, all nice and early:

Got the Blue Olive Rose as an extra blender that I don't need in a quilt I've been hired to do. Got the Yellow Katie Jump Rope on sale!

I think mugs might be my new obsession. I've been coveting the bottom print for a long time.

Super Stash Sunday

I've joined this little thing called "Super Stash Sunday" where you show off some of your stash for other fabric lovers every week. Sorry to sign up and then go on holidays, but I'm back now. It was started by 1/4 of an inch . I saw the photos popping up on Flikr and after drooling over katy's photos I had to join. I shall see how long I can maintain it for.



These are some Tina Givens lovelies that I have vague plans to make into something rich and strange. I love browns and oranges right now, and I'm probably one of the few people in the universe who is happy to see them back in style. The one on the far right is one of my favorite Garden Party prints.